I made a hearty soup for dinner and I thought it would be enough to fill everyone’s tummies. But by the end of the evening, my husband Lulu's stomach started growling. I made a little snack for him that consisted of smoked gouda cheese, honey wheat crackers and avocado tomatillo salsa.

I thought of naming the salsa "avocadillo" or "tomaticado" salsa, but I could hear the collective sighs and groans of the internet in my head. No matter how you call this simple combination of tomatillos, avocado, garlic and cilantro, it’s a smart and healthy way to add more servings of fresh vegetables to your diet.

My husband Lulu's has always fond memories of his childhood friend, Scott. He's told me about Scott's mom's delicious matzo ball soup. Back then in the days, Lulu wasn't a vegetarian but now he asked me to come up with a vegetarian version. I attempted it today for the first time and I'm very happy with how it turned out.

I kept the dish fairly simple; I made a vegetable broth and boiled the matzo balls for 30 minutes in salt water. Way back when I was a kid in France, I remember my friend Emma's grandmother would say her secret for making the matzo balls extra fluffy was to store them. I use a similar trick in my madeleine recipe and it's worked well in both cases.

This is a healthier version of eggplant Parmesan, but just as tasty. I used a limited amount of cheese in this dish, and filled grilled eggplant with white beans. The white beans have a soft texture and add a bunch of protein to the dish, making it a viable main course option for vegetarians.

I still had a leftover jar of marinara sauce from last summer and the sauce tasted amazingly good. Everyone loved this dish and the best part is that no one felt guilty having the decadent dessert I made afterwards!

Comfort food is usually synonymous with a high calorie count, but that doesn't always have to be the case. I've served vegetarian bean chili several times in the past for my husband Lulu and he loves this dish. Our family jokingly calls it "chili non carne." Even an avowed carnivore like me must admit it's pretty satisfying.

For a little change, instead of using regular red tomatoes, I prepared the chili with fresh tomatillos (also known as husk tomatoes). I mixed tomatillos with Anaheim and Serrano chiles, green bell peppers, lime, garlic, store-bought soy chorizo and fresh pineapple. This recipe couldn't be easier!

We had a giant seafood feast last weekend, and believe it or not, we cooked 12 whole crabs. The main flavoring of this dish was fermented black beans, which are very common in Asian cooking. I also added fresh green chiles and a lot of Thai basil leaves.

The crabs are prepared in two steps. First, they're fried, and then to finish them off, they are stir-fried with the fermented bean sauce and a bit of cooking wine. It gets a bit messy around the stove, but the result is worth the effort!